Shop Choice  Pt III  Little Brother
by Lil Nezumi
Summary: Part III - There is still a Pet Shop in L.A.'s Chinatown, only it's not run by who you think.  The new shop's owner's little brother must be told about the new changes in his 'Big Bro's' life.


**Title: **Shop Choice - III - Little Brother

**Main pairing:** None at this time, future tales will contain m/m pairings, you've just been warned.

_**MY Inspiration:**_ Pet Shop of Horrors (all media types), Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo (various media types), unfinished story found at www dot adultfanfiction dot net ("The PetShop's Chosen", by Katus Kaijou, a WIP: only 2 small chapters, posted 2006/10/23 and last updated 2006/10/25)

**Disclaimer:** This is my standard disclaimer; I don't own anything in regards to the sources of _**MY**__**Inspiration**_. All publically recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

All the characters, worlds, base concepts or general ideas are just a bit food for the writing bug. This story is pure fiction and is in no way meant to copy or reflect real life, events or people, should this happen then obviously it is pure coincidence.

**Author's Note:** After the last Manga of the original series, please discount the tiny epilogue of a future Chris and Count D's supposed son. This story will by AU or AR, however you feel about Alternate whatevers... I will deem this one, an AC - Alternate Continuation story. Hmm...I think I like that term, never seen it used before, so from here on however I'm inspired to writer alternative endings, I believe that AC is an appropriate acronym for fanfiction. (LOL)

**Summary:** Part III - There is still a Pet Shop in L.A.'s Chinatown, only it's not run by who you think. The new shop's owner's little brother must be told about the new changes in his '_Big Bro's_' life.

**Speech Legend: **(This is the standard by which I write most of my stories and therefore you will not see this repeated in future chapters)

"Normal"  
>'<em>Thoughts<em>'  
>(…Other LanguagesMind Speak/Alternate Speech Patterns like sign language…)

Leon O - Chris O - Leon O - Chris O

**LITTLE BROTHER**

Leon O - Chris O - Leon O - Chris O

Seven months and a few contracts later, Leon was ready to begin his search for the illusive Count D, a runaway creature of unknown descent. The shop was reluctant to let him leave, but there were a few times that he'd had to do that to seek out some of the shop's new pets.

A couple of times was to go visit his little brother in Boston to ensure that he was doing okay living with his aunt and uncle once more. It was during these times that he was testing the shop's boundaries and time limits for him. It was attached to him and he knew that the leash would lengthen eventually, so long as he always returned within a specific timeframe.

It was difficult to predict travel times, but the shop needed to learn about things like potential airline delays.

It took time, which is why it was now seven months later he was permitted to leave on quarterly vacations, beginning on Thursday evenings and returning sometime on the following Mondays.

He followed news articles, stories, rumours, etc... anything that was related to accidental death by animal. He stuck close to the North and South Americas, but he actually knew that the Count was overseas. However the shop wouldn't let him leave for the length of time needed to chase that effeminate Chinese man all over the eastern side of the world.

It wouldn't let him leave for business unless there was a guarantee that he'd be back within the four day time limit. He figured that it might take him years before he could actually travel and be away from the shop for weeks instead of just long week-ends.

'_Soon,_' he thought visiting a beach room within the shop to relax a bit. The shop was petulant every time he left and came back. It sulked, but there was nothing he could do about that. He needed to see the Count. He needed to confront that infernal man and show him that things didn't need to change that much. That he hadn't needed to run away just because of the FBI or any other government agency.

'_Please quit sulking,_' Leon thought to the shop who was creating a gloomy atmosphere in the room he had gone to for a bit of peace from the constantly ringing bell the last few days. He'd jokingly put up a '_Gone Fishing back in fifteen minutes_' sign on the door of the shop.

'_Please, I'm aware that it will take time and I'm not planning to leave until it's a certain thing that he'll be wear I'll find him,_' Leon thought again not liking the look of the clouds forming overhead. He felt the sigh coming from the shop and then saw the light coming through the breaking clouds. '_Thank you._'

He felt the gentle breeze tugging at his hair, as though a hand was petting it. It was getting longer, but he liked that. The Count had kept his short, but the ex-detective had felt that it was the man's own little rebellion against his family's conventions, since his grandfather and father had long hair.

Water creatures popped up out of the waves to squeak at him and that caused him to smile and wave back at them. He thought about his little brother's best friend Philippe and finally knew that it had been one of the playful dolphins that had gathered here. Philippe might have been long gone with D, but there were others coming to fill these empty shores.

Leon was learning much more than he had ever thought he would. Through proximity he was learning many things and he was physically changing too. It was one of the conditions to becoming the owner of such a shop. He already knew that something like that would happen and that his prior exposure had left him physically open to such changes. These changes would allow him the longevity needed to fulfill some of the shop's requirements, which included ensuring that some of her sister shops were well taken care of too.

He wondered from time to time, if his little brother had been too exposed in such a way as well. He didn't want his brother to visit him, just in case he'd be unduly influenced by the new shop's atmosphere, however only time will tell.

'_He had to have been exposed just enough to be influence_,' he thought. '_But what I saw from my last visit, he was living a normal life for a boy his age. He deserves to live a normal life too. Perhaps he'll remember in vague dreams or be called to one of the shop's sisters, but at least I was able to tell him about my new situation and I was able to help with his jumbled memories of D's own peculiar shop._'

He chuckled as he recalled his brother's reaction to his career change. His little brother still had a romantic's point of view about working with the law.

Leon O - Chris O - Leon O - Chris O

**Flashback**

"Big Bro," a taller seven year old Chris said running up and hugging his older brother. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to visit you," Leon said, hugging the youngster and petting the boy's fluffy hair. "That's all right, isn't it?"

"Of course," Chris said, pulling on his brother's hand to lead him into the house that belonged to his aunt and uncle, but whom he'd only known as '_Mom_' and '_Dad_'. "Come on, I know that Mom and Dad would like to see you too."

"Hold your horse, there tiger," Leon said with a chuckle and then allowed the young boy to continue pulling him into the grand house that belonged to his well-to-do aunt and uncle. He looked up into the eyes of the guardians of his little brother. "Hello Auntie, Uncle, how are you today?"

"We're fine and you," his aunt asked. There was a look in her eyes that showed some worry.

"I'm only here to visit," Leon said, quickly guessing that she was worried he was coming back to claim guardianship of his little brother. "I have some news to tell you about and I needed to let you guys know about my change of address since I moved out of my tiny apartment."

"I'll make some coffee," his aunt said. "Chris, why don't you go show your brother your room?"

"Sure," the young boy said. "This way," he continued to tug at his brother's arm.

Leon paused at the door. There were several colourful drawings tacked to the corked bulletin frame on the door. This reminded him of the one he had gone to so much trouble to return to D in order to make the Kami remember what he was running away from. This was before he was pushed off the mystical flying vessel.

He grinned at the pictures. They were filled with animals and then he stepped into the room and noted that his baby brother had quite a collection of stuffed animals on his bed. He looked at Chris, who was no longer tugging at his arm.

"Chris," Leon said getting to similar blue eyes looking back at him. "What is it?"

"I miss...," he stopped. "I'm missing someone, but I can't remember them." His eyes were getting filled with tears of frustration because he couldn't remember.

"Oh Chris," Leon said, kneeling down to gather his brother in his arms. He gently petted the hair from the top of his little head down to his back, soothing the pain that the young boy contained. It was a gesture that he used on some of the hardier pets in the shop to calm them down. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Chris said, sniffling into his big brother's shirt. "I just miss them."

"I do too," Leon said. "I know who they are, but there is nothing that we can do about it now."

"Things change all the time," Chris said. "I need to grow up in order to learn about what happened." He looked into his brother's eyes and asked, "Is it okay to miss them even I don't remember who they were?"

"Yes," Leon answered truthfully. "I think that the forgetting is so that you can learn to be who you want to be when you grow up."

"Like you being a detective?"

"Something like that," Leon answered evasively.

"Big Bro," Chris said, giving a stern look, that wasn't all that intimidating on the young rounded face of a child. The look was so D and that's how Leon knew that he brother would eventually find his way back into a pet shop, either D's or one of the sister shops that were located around the world in key magical locations.

"I've changed jobs," Leon said. "I was a good detective and I did like catching the bad guys, but something more important happened." He looked at his little brother's open mouthed expression of shock and near-disbelief. He said, "It was around the same time that you forgot who you're missing."

"But you were a good police man," Chris said. He turned to look at one of his drawings and said, "Are you still helping people?"

"Yes," Leon said without hesitation.

It was absolutely true, even though now he was slowly approaching the level of D's understanding and near contempt about humans being too beastly to continue overtaking the Earth's resources. He also knew that some humans felt that same way, but there was nothing that could ever been done to reverse human evolution and nothing that should ever be done about it either.

"Good," Chris said, hugging his brother and then with the limited attention span of the young, he turned to different subjects hoping that he'd be able to remember and forget a little longer.

Before they left the room, at his aunt's call that coffee was ready, Leon said, "I have something for you."

"What is it," Chris said.

"Can I borrow your colours for a minute," Leon asked.

"Yes," the young boy said. He watched as his older brother took a piece of plain construction paper and a black crayon. Lines were drawn quickly and a couple of other colours were added. Once it was all done, it looked like a picture of paper sliding doors with characters along the outside, running up and down.

"Get Uncle to put this in a frame for you," Leon said. "If you put it on the wall above your bed, you should have good dreams." Chris looked sceptical, but he nodded because he secretly wanted to truly believe his brother. "It's just a simple good luck charm to wish you good dreams," he said to his little brother out loud.

Silently he thought, '_It should help you to place those precious memories in the right place in your mind in order for you to be able to recall them only when you go into Count D's Pet Shop once more. The incense from the Count's shop will be your trigger. It won't be the same if you visit my shop or any other pet shop because we all use a unique one._'

All potential shops had their own scent based on owner preference and it was as simple as that.

The two brothers headed down the stairs and on the table were official looking papers as well as coffee.

Leon knew what was coming. They wanted to formally adopt his baby brother. He'd denied the request and in fact would only allow it upon his death, as that was how his Will had been set up. They periodically tried and he knew that today would be like any other attempt.

"Auntie," he said glaring at the file on the table. "I'm only here to visit."

"Please," she said. "Just hear us out. We really want to adopt him and we've been giving him a good home."

"I know that," Leon said. "But I can't change any of that and you know it."

"No," his Uncle said with a fist down onto the table. "You've never explained it to us. You never said why you had to retain any form guardianship of Chris."

"Plus your police job is too dangerous," his Aunt attacked verbally. "You'll get hurt one day and you'll never recover from it."

Leon held up his hand in a manner familiar to Chris who was looking at all three with tears slowly forming in his eyes. "It's not appropriate to discuss this when Chris is here, but I will explain," he said. He then looked at his younger brother and said, "I can't let them adopt you because Mom made a request of me on the day that she died. Do you think you can understand what a deathbed promise is, Chris?"

This was a serious question and this looked to be the first time that any of them had heard of this.

Chris wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and said, "No. Not really."

"Can you guess," Leon asked. He looked sternly at his aunt and uncle preventing them from making any other comment.

Chris looked up into his big brother's serious looking expression and said, "If someone is about to die and they know that they're going..." He paused and then continued at this brother's nod. "They would ask for something...a favour... a promise, maybe?"

"Yes," Leon said. "Sometimes they ask for a promise from a living person. Sometimes they just need to say something very important to them and it is up to the one listening to choose to listen or make a promise."

"You made a promise to Mother," Chris asked wide-eyed. He'd known that his Mom wasn't his real mother and he'd always differentiated the two when his Mom was in the room.

"Yes," the blond man said. "I promised to do my best to let you be raised in love, but to never let you be adopted by anyone." He looked at his aunt and uncle when he said that. "Mom wanted Chris to be loved in a family situation and she knew that, as a Detective I wouldn't always be ready to let him stay with me. She knew that you were there, Auntie, and she knew that I could ask you for help."

"Oh," she said with a sad grin, remembering her headstrong, independent older sister. "I see."

"I had to promise," Leon said. "Besides I'm not a Detective anymore, I'm officially retired." He chuckled at their shocked expressions. "However, I think that Chris should still remain living here with the two of you."

"Why," his Uncle asked. "What are you doing now?"

"I'm running a shop in Chinatown," Leon said with smile. "I'm still learning the business, but it is a job that will let me have more time to come and visit. Besides you are his Mom and Dad and no piece of paper will change his feelings towards the two of you. I certainly wouldn't deny him that."

"Oh," his uncle said. He looked at the file and then took it out of the room to put away.

Leon's aunt, his mother's baby sister, then said, "How long will you be staying?"

"I have to catch a flight in the morning, but I was hoping to spend time this afternoon with Chris and you guys," he said.

"We have a few appointments in town," she explained. "Why don't you take Chris to the zoo and then we can meet up for dinner at one of the Restaurants in town?"

"That's a good idea," Leon said. "What d'ya say squirt? Shall we go visit the local zoo for a bit and then go out to eat."

"Yes," Chris said with a bounce in his step and running to the door, thinking that they were going to leave now.

"I guess we'll meet you in town," Leon said. "That is if you don't mind."

"We don't mind," his aunt said. "You're his brother and even if you're no longer a cop, you still have the training to protect him."

"That's right," Leon said with a wicked grin that his aunt immediately dismissed as being childish, impish and mischievous rather than feral and dangerous.

"Common Big Brother," Chris said trying to drag his older brother away and to someplace fun.

Leon O - Chris O - Leon O - Chris O

**Flash Far Forward**

It was eight years later, a little after Chris' fifteenth birthday that the pet shop finally allowed Leon to travel by plane, to a country further than four days away. This was how long it took for the magical changes to occur in the shop's chosen owner. It could have taken less time, but Leon's stubbornness was the cause.

He needed to give some form of chase or else the creature that was known to Leon as Count D would never take the human's feeling seriously.

Time was no longer relative to Leon and looking at the final physical changes there was no way that he'd be able to remain in this shop's location much longer. "You sure fixed me, didn't you," he said to the shop in a semi-teasing and chiding tone, swishing the leonine looking tail behind him. "You know that I'll have to move."

The shop was ready for this. It was time for the Ark of Pets to know that it had help in the form of other shops in the world. It agreed with a playful petting tug of the longer hair that her owner now had. But the sister shops were connected in a different way and the move for the animals would be done in just one of the Earth's revolution around the sun.

The shop agreed, but she still maintained that they needed to stay for just a tiny bit longer because there was still a few animals due to arrive in the next few years. However, she was fully ready to let him seriously chase the D of his choice now and that's what she sent to him through a few images and emotions.

Leon laughed and roared his joy at being able to give chase. "Soon Count D," he said to the wind. "I will track you down soon."

He paused and looked at his slightly altered appearance. '_Hybrid_,' his mind supplied. '_More human than animal, but still animal enough to follow the call of a mate and hopefully the call of his heart was a match to the mate in his mind._'

Somewhere far away, in one of the larger cities in Europe, a Kami or nature God, by the name of Count D, who's the grandson of the original Count that ran a Pet Shop, sneezed and said to the Totetsu by his side, "I beg your pardon, someone must be talking about me."

Leon O - Chris O - Leon O - Chris O

**END**


End file.
